virginia
Virginia’s Right to Retrieve Law is Challenged
This September a challenge to Virginia’s Right to Retrieve law* was sent to the state’s Supreme Court for consideration.
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Ewbank Clothiers Gutted by Fire
The fire that consumed Ewbank Clothiers in Berryville, Virginia on Thursday, August 13, 2015 couldn’t have come at a worse time for proprietor Karen Ewbank. Her custom tailoring shop was full of hunt coats and other foxhunting attire either being repaired or built in preparation for the upcoming hunting season.
"I woke up at three in the morning that night, counting red coats," she recalls.
In addition to the loss of clothing and fabrics, perhaps even more serious is the loss of her meticulously cut pattern drafts—now ashes—used to trace shapes onto fabrics. The patterns will have to be re-plotted on brown Kraft paper from client measurements and re-cut—a process that takes about five hours for each client’s hunt coat. As of the date of this article, Karen doesn’t yet know whether her client measurement charts survived. They’re in steel filing cabinets in the front of the shop, and she has hopes that they were spared.
“I’m kicking on,” Karen told me today, the first workday of a new week. “I’m moving everything to my house and will work from here until the shop is rebuilt. That could take months, even though the structure is still sound.”
Virginia Horses Confirmed Positive for EHM
A horse in Albemarle County, northwest of Charlottesville, Virginia, that displayed neurologic abnormality was confirmed positive for Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) on February 5, 2015. The boarding stable at which the affected horse is located, along with fourteen other horses, has been placed under quarantine. No horses may leave or enter the premises until the quarantine is lifted. EHM is a neurological form of Equine Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), a highly infectious disease that generally affects the respiratory system. Although the condition of the horse in Albemarle County has been improving, a horse in Loudoun County was tested positive for the neurolopathogenic strain of EHV-1 on February 12. That horse has been isolated at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center, and is also recovering. The farm where the horse was stabled is also under quarantine. Thirty-three other horses at that farm have shown no signs of the disease. Updates are published periodically by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Posted February 20, 2015
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Multiple Equine Herpes Cases Break Out in Minnesota
Following news of a confirmed case of Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) in Virginia, we learn that veterinarians in Minnesota have declared a voluntary lockdown following an outbreak involving nine horses in that state and in western Wisconsin. EHM is neurological disease in horses caused by Equine Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1). The veterinarians recommended that no horses be moved or intermingled in the state for at least two weeks after the last positive case of the virus is confirmed. The timing is such that three hundred stalls likely remained empty at the annual Minnesota Horse Expo this year. Symptoms of EHM start with runny nose and low-grade fever and progress to neurological problems. If not treated, the horse may lose the ability to walk in just a week. Of the nine cases in Minnesota and environs, three horses required euthanization as of mid-April. The Virginia Department of Animal and Consumer Services recommends the following biosecurity measures for all horses that will come into contact with other horses at shows, trail rides, meets and other events: Minimize direct contact between assembled horses whenever possible.1. Clean and disinfect equipment, feed, tack, stalls and other surfaces that are shared between horses.2. Isolate and closely monitor horses that are returning from a show, trail ride or competition for a minimum of 14 days.3. Clean and disinfect caretakers’ hands, clothing, shoes and vehicles that may be contaminated by other horses or equipment.4. Consult with your veterinarian about a vaccination schedule for diseases of concern such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis, West Nile Virus, Equine Rhinopneumonitis and rabies. Your equine veterinarian can also provide you with biosecurity recommendations that are specifically tailored to your horses and your facility. Horse exhibitors and event goers can monitor their horses for early signs of infection by taking their temperature twice a day while at shows and reporting an elevated temperature to their veterinarian. Click for more details concerning the Minnesota outbreak. Posted May 6, 2014 http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/25236679/horses-banned-from-expo-due-to-contagious-virus
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Phase-Out of Fox Pens One Step Closer in VA
A plan to phase out fox pens in the Commonwealth over a forty-year period was endorsed by the Agricultural Committee of the Virginia House of Delegates yesterday. The Richmond Times-Dispatch characterized the 18-3 vote as significant, since the House has traditionally been more reluctant than the Senate to interfere with foxhound training pens. Under the approved plan, fox pens would be allowed to continue to operate for the next forty years, but no new pens would be allowed to open. Foxhound training pens are used by many hunts around the country as a part of their puppy training program. The pens are also used by individuals who simply enjoy running their hounds. Foxes are provided with refuges within the pen to allow them to escape hounds when pressed. There are rules that limit the number of hounds that may be in a pen at any one time. In addition to the use of fox pens for training, pens have also been used for foxhound field trials. Last year the Virginia Senate banned competition in fox pens. The state of Florida has already banned the operation of fox pens. Posted February 27, 2014
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George L. Ohrstrom III Wins MFHA Award
George L. Ohrstrom III / Matthew Klein photoEver since 1888, the Blue Ridge Hunt has pursued foxes through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia—a verdant, rolling grassland dotted with small woodlands, perhaps fifteen miles across, nestled between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Allegheny Mountains to the west.
The Shenandoah River flows northeasterly along the eastern edge of the valley, passes under the western slopes of the Blue Ridge, and empties into the Potomac River at Harper’s Ferry, W.Va.—a confluence described three centuries ago by Thomas Jefferson as “one of the most stupendous scenes in nature.”
Home to a mostly rural population, the Shenandoah Valley has long been a destination of unsurpassed beauty to vacationers and sightseers. The northern part of the Valley that is home to the Blue Ridge Hunt also finds itself to be an object of lust to developers from Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia to the east and the nearby city of Winchester to the west. While many landowners find it hard to resist the potential financial windfall from development, others believe that to relinquish such natural beauty to untrammeled development would be a crime against nature.
Along with its sister landscape just to the east of the Blue Ridge—Virginia’s Piedmont—a passionate calling for preservation has rallied many of its citizens to battle. Few, however, have responded like George Ohrstrom III. The scope and creativity of Ohrstrom’s efforts locally, nationally, and internationally earned him the MFHA’s Conservation Award for 2014.
